Venting to the World

Are men more afraid of aging than women?

Everyone has heard about the famous mid-life crisis. It is usually more applied to men than to women. We imagine the red sports car, the working out at the gym incessantly and the sudden need to exchange the woman your age for someone who could be your daughter.

I am sure women may go through the same worries about their changing appearance, the need to hold on to the last remnants of youth and assure themselves they are not has-beens yet. Nevertheless, I find women more accepting of age.

One sign that men don’t take aging well are online dating profiles. Take a look at them: almost EVERY middle-aged man needs to say that he looks and feels younger than his age. Also: that people tell him he looks (insert number of years) younger than his real age. People are kind. When the subject of guessing someone’s age comes up, people usually guess much younger to stroke their ego. Add to that the fact that most people don’t look at details: quality of skin, hands, teeth, neck, eyes-all dead giveaways of someone’s real age, no matter how much plastic surgery.

It seems to me women are more self-critical and have a clearer image of what they look like, their imperfections and how old they look. Men are also a lot less self-conscious about their body. They parade around naked and seem oblivious to their protruding bellies or sagging everything. They probably look in the mirror and see an Adonis. That’s why they feel younger women will fall for them, even when they don’t have a hundred million dollars? Because they see themselves as young hunks still?